Tag: Sony

Earlier this week, Sony unveiled the much-awaited Xperia Z smartphone at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013 in Las Vegas. This handset managed to grab the eyeballs of almost everyone at the event, thanks to its brilliant design and powerful specs. Sony Xperia Z is a water and dust resistant smartphone with a durable glass display.

Sony has already announced that the device will be launched during the Q1 of 2013. Sadly, the price of this device was not revealed at the event. Now, we have good news for the folks living in the UK. Clove, a popular online retailer has not only started taking the pre-orders of this device, but also revealed the exact price of this device. If you are still unaware of the complete features, then check out the specs posted below.

Clove has not mentioned the exact release date, however the retailer is expected to ship the device starting from March 1, 2013. This handset comes with a price-tag of £528 (approx. $850) in the UK (including VAT). To pre-order this device right now, just head over to this page.

Ultra HD displays are clearly the next big thing as far as display manufacturers are considered, with 3D being suddenly relegated to the status of a secondary feature. During the first two days, we saw Samsung and LG announce gorgeous 55-inch 4K OLED TVs, Panasonic showcase its massive 20-inch Windows 8 table with a 4K display targeted at designers, and LG and Sony announce affordable (comparatively) smaller 4K displays. Ultra high definition displays represent the next radical improvement in display technology, and the good news is that 2013 looking to be the year where it will finally spread its wings.

Yesterday, LG announced a 30-inch monitor with an astounding resolution of 4096 x 2160 pixels. Although, we don’t know the price of this little beauty, it will surely put a dent in your pocket. LG is billing the 153 ppi display as a professional monitor aimed at designers and artists. Viewsonic also displayed a 32-inch monitor with a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 that will be shipping towards the end of this year.

Sony on the other hand is displaying a curious prototype that is labelled as a 4K handycam for consumer use. It’s not even known if the prototype works since its currently securely locked in a glass cage, but as per The Verge, it records 4K videos using the XAVC open-source format. To be honest, the 4K video recorder sems to be too big and bulky for most consumers.

Last, but not least, Westinghouse stayed true to its word, and unveiled the biggest 4K TV in the world. Westinghouse’s 110-inch 4K TV is a good 25 inches bigger than its nearest competition. However, it comes at a price. The world’s biggest 4K TV will only be manufactured to order, and will cost $300,000, which is more than ten times the price of 85-inch and 84-inch 4K televisions from Sony and LG respectively.

CES 2013 officially kicks off today; however, some folks couldn’t just wait. Samsung, Nvidia, Sony, and many of the big names got the ball rolling yesterday itself. Judging from the day zero, if last year was the year of ultrabooks, this year can turn out to be the year of 4K television.

LG and Sony already have strong offerings in the Ultra-HD or 4K segment. Yesterday, Samsung announced its entry with a 85-inch monster. The Samsung UN85S9 takes away the crown of the world’s largest 4K television from LG and Sony by being an inch bigger. However, its reign at the top is bound to be short-lived as Westinghouse is expected to announce a 110-inch monster later on during the CES.

The Samsung UN85S9 features a stunning “floating” design, which allows the display to be easily adjusted vertically. Samsung’s new UHD television is powered by a 1.35 GHz quad-core A15 processor, but unlike LG’s dual-core counterpart, it doesn’t support 3D.

The other 4K TV displayed yesterday came in a smaller package, but was equally wow-worthy. Sony showed off its 56-inch 4K OLED display. However, the display is currently in prototype stages, and no price or launch date information is available.

Sony did, however, have some good news for consumers looking to purchase 4K television. The Japanese giant will be leveraging its media portfolio to alleviate the lack of content issue. Sony will be bundling ten UHD movies sourced from Sony Pictures or its subsidiary Columbia Pictures with its 84-inch 4K TV. The selection includes the likes of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ and ‘The Karate Kid’. It is also planning to launch a download service, from where buyers of smaller 4K televisions, including the 55-inch and 65-inch 4K TVs that were announced yesterday, will be able to download 4K movies.

As expected, Sony finally released the much-awaited Xperia Z smartphone at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013 in Las Vegas. This handset comes with some powerful specs including a 5 inch Full HD 1080p display, 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 13 megapixel fast-capture camera and much more. Sony Xperia Z is a water and dust resistant smartphone with a durable glass display. It also features Exmor RS for mobile, the world’s first image sensor with HDR (High Dynamic Range) video for smartphones.

Kuni Suzuki, President and CEO, at Sony Mobile Communications, said, “With Xperia Z, we are bringing over half a century of innovation in TV, imaging, music, film and gaming to create a superphone experience that truly stands out. With great specifications, Sony’s media applications and One-touch functions, Xperia Z is well positioned for leadership in the smartphone market. By putting smartphones at the heart of our strategy, Sony is enabling people to create, enjoy and share content and experiences like never before.”

This handset comes with an unique Battery Stamina Mode that can improve the standby time by four times by automatically shutting down battery-draining apps whenever the screen is off and starting them up again when the screen is back on. Sony Xperia Z will launch globally during the Q1 of 2013. The price of this handset is still a mystery.

The much-awaited Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013 is finally here. As usual, the event will be held between January 8 – January 11 in Las Vegas, United States. HP, Lenovo and Vizio are expected to launch a number of ultrabooks, while LG, Samsung, Sony and HTC will launch their flagship smartphones and tablets. Check out the complete schedule below. All timings are mentioned in PST (GMT -0800).

We already have some idea about the phones in Sony’s 2013 Xperia lineup, now details have emerged about what they are going to be called.

The C660X, which was until now known by its codename ‘Yuga‘, is rumored to be the Xperia Z. According to a source on XDA, the Xperia Z will be both water and dust resistant with IP57 certification. It will also sport a 5” 1080p display with OptiContrast technology, which will reduce reflection and glare under sunlight.

Odin, which is the other powerhouse that Sony will be releasing next year, will probably be launched as the Xperia X. It will be identical to the Xperia Z in terms of specifications with a 5” full HD display, Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core chipset, and 13 megapixel camera. However, it will sport a different design.

There are also rumors that the Xperia Z and the Xperia X might be announced in China on January 15 at a price point similar to that of Xperia T. Even if that doesn’t turn out to be true, the phones will almost surely make an appearance at next year’s CES and MWC.

Sony Xperia T owners, if any, want a sneak peek for the Jelly Bean update that is coming sometime next year for your device? Sony Viet has managed to get their hands on a video that shows a development Android 4.1.2 firmware from Sony running on the Xperia T.

The Android 4.1.2 update for Xperia T will bring with it quite a lot of new changes including all the features that Google added in Jelly Bean. This includes Project Butter for a buttery-smooth UI experience, expandable notifications in the notification bar, minor UI updates and more. Sony has also added some of its own customizations including a new launcher, enhanced lock screen, a ‘ClearAudio+’ mode for better audio quality, a new Albums app, improved Camera app, improved battery life and other minor software goodies.

Below is the video showing Android 4.1.2 in action on the Xperia T -:

One of the most important under-the-hood changes is that the kernel version gets bumped to v3.4 with the Jelly Bean update. Only the Nexus 4 runs on the latest version of linux kernel for mobile devices.

Sony should start rolling out the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update for the Xperia T sometime in January next year. Until then, Xperia T owners need to satisfy their hunger for Jelly Bean with the above YouTube video.

Sony today provided Xperia owners an update on its Jelly Bean roll-out plans. First in line to get the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update from Sony will be the Xperia T, Xperia TX and the Xperia V sometime in February or March.

The Xperia P, J and go are next in line and will get the update by the end of March. In the following weeks, the Xperia S, SL, Ion and acro S will get the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update.

Sony also confirmed that it will not be bringing Jelly Bean to its budget-oriented handsets including Xperia U, miro, tipo and Sola.

By the time Sony will start rolling out Android 4.1 Jelly Bean to the Xperia T and other devices, Samsung and HTC would have already rolled out Android 4.2 to the Galaxy S3, Note 2 and the One X.

I am not sure what Sony is doing here, but if it takes you more than 7-8 months to roll-out an Android OS update for your devices, something is definitely wrong.

Sony has been supporting the Android community a lot recently by providing them with binary/blobs, free devices and more. This has made them a favorite among the Android community. However, until and unless Sony does something about its ridiculously slow Android updates roll-out times, the company will have a hard time surviving in the mobile industry with fierce competition.

2012 hasn’t exactly turned out to be a great year for Sony Mobile. The Japanese manufacturer has been struggling to simply keep up with the competition. Months after HTC and Samsung released its flagships, Sony is yet to release anything that can compete in pure specs as well as performance. However, 2013 is shaping up to be a much more impressive year for Sony.

Several smartphones from Sony’s 2013 lineup have already been leaked. Odin (C650X) and Yuga (C660X) are likely to be the Sony flagships for next year. While we don’t know much about Odin, last month, we got our first look at Yuga. Now, Eldar Murtazin from Mobile-Review has managed to get his hands on Yuga. As previously reported, the phone boasts of a 5” full HD (1080p) LCD dispay, and is powered by a Snapdragon S4 Pro. Elder was impressed with what he saw, and termed the powerful processor and the large display as a “fabulous combination”. However, he also noted that the device tends to get “warm as a stove”.

Another new device, which currently goes by the codename HuaShan (C5303X) wasspotted on AnTuTu. HuaShan will probably be a budget device sporting a 1.7 GHz dual-core CPU. The other two Sony Mobile smartphones that we know of are unnamed devices bearing the code numbers C150X and C160X. They will be entry level offerings powered by a 1.0GHz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7227A chipset with Adreno 200 graphics.

Sony has started rolling out a new firmware update for its mid-range Droids – the Xperia P, U, Sola and go. The update does not bump up the firmware version but includes improvements to Wi-Fi performance, NFC, Camera, Messaging and more. There is also an overall improvement in the performance and stability of these handsets, thanks to the new update.

Owners of the above handsets can install the latest update on their handset directly via OTA (Over-The-Air), or can alternatively use Sony’s PC Companion.

Xperia U, go and Sola owners will automatically be notified about the update being available, if they are already running Ice Cream Sandwich on their devices. If not, then they will have to use Sony’s PC Companion app to update to Ice Cream Sandwich first.

Xperia P owners will get the OTA update depending on their region and carrier’s approval, which might take sometime.

While the Xperia Sola, go and U will not be upgraded to Jelly Bean from Sony, the Xperia P will get the update sometime next year.